


Lost in a good book

by BarPurple



Series: BarPurple's House of Horror 2017 [13]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dark Castle, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:13:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12548580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BarPurple/pseuds/BarPurple
Summary: He'd joked that Belle could get lost in a book like no one else, but did she had to do it for real, and did it have to be this book?





	Lost in a good book

Rumple was suspicious the second he returned to the Dark Castle. Belle hadn’t come to greet him. Normally no matter how carefully he tried to sneak in, she knew he had returned and came hurrying from whatever task she had been doing, eager to hear the tale of his latest deal. Well, he had only been away for a few hours, maybe she hadn’t expected him back so soon and was lost in a book.

He magicked the mud from his boots and slung his cloak over the table before going in search of his little maid. The Great Hall was empty, as was the kitchen, the library also held no Belle. As he tapped his claws together something caught his eye; lying open on the couch that he’d provided in an attempt to stop her sitting on tables was an open book, which was unusual because she was never this careless with books. He swore loudly when he picked it up and read the title. How in the hells had this ended up in here? He was sure he’d taken all the magical tomes to his tower before he made this room for Belle. In a rapid swirl of smoke he transported himself to the Great Hall; there was something he needed before he went to rescue his little maid from the mess she was no doubt in.

As he selected the fullest spool of finished gold thread from the basket by his wheel he tried to recall how many times he’d had to get his little maid out of trouble since she’d agreed to the terms of his deal. There’d been the kidnapping by the Queens of Darkness, the squid in the lake, several kitchen fires, the tumble from the ladder, and he didn’t even want to think about the spider incident. Honestly, she attracted danger like a candle flame attracted moths, but nothing yet had crushed her inquisitive spirit. If anything, she’d grown bolder since she’d been living with him, and that was a surprise, no one flourished near him. Now she had literally gotten herself lost in a book, and it had to be this bloody book, didn’t it?

It was the work of a moment to secure the spool to the wheel and tie the loose end to his waistcoat, he could have tied it around his wrist, but he wanted to have both hands free just in case things got messy. Considering where he was going messy was a very real possibility.

A flick of magic opened the book to the page Belle had gotten lost in. Rumple groaned and closed his eyes as he jumped. Had anyone been watching they would have seen Rumple leap a great height before his feet twisted sinuously at an impossibly angle as he disappeared into the book. The leather-bound tome slammed shut, and had there been an observer they could have read the words that adorned the cover; “Escher’s Realm”.

Rumple risked a quick glance around and groaned as the landscape shifted in an eye bending twist. He forced his eyes down to the slabs of sandstone beneath his feet and took a hesitant step forward. His senses were telling him that he was both going up an incline and going down a sharp drop. With gritted teeth he walked on trying to ignore everything apart from the ground as he saw it under his slowly moving feet.

“She said he would follow her.”

“Looks like she was right.”

He growled at the sound of the twin voices. His hand fumbled for the stone balustrade to his left, and he had to ignore the sensation that it was twisting away from him while moving towards him. His claws bit into the stone and he took a deep breath before he looked up to find the source of the voices.

Two faces hung in the air, the gaps between their spiral skins made them look as if they had been peeled in one long strip from an apple.

“Where is she?”

The faces converged and blended into one, before separating out once more releasing a burst of heavy looking spheres that floated improbably in the air.

“She is where everyone goes.”

“The Hall of Stairs.”

Rumple’s stomach flipped and for a moment he feared he might vomit. He inhaled sharply through his nose and forced the nausea away.

“Of course, that’s where she is, silly girl,” – he gave the heads a lacklustre wave in thanks.

He checked that the golden string was still firmly attached to the back of his waistcoat and edged forward. The landscape made a sickening twist through more than the sensible three dimensions and Rumple squinted up at the sky. He exhaled slowly and muttered to himself; “Oh great, these guys.”

The scene before him was a checkerboard of black and white. At the point that his logical mind declared as the horizon fish shifted into birds, or birds shifted into fish, Rumple wasn’t sure, but he would rather that they would just decide on one form and stick to it.

“Which way?”

One of the fish-birds flap-flopped out of formation and hovered in front of Rumple.

“You are here for Belle? Of course you are. She is the Hall of Stairs, just around the Mobius Strip. Do you want a lift?”

Rumple would rather amputate his own leg with a cheese wire, but he pulled something approaching a polite smile onto his face and said; “I’ll take the walk, dearie.”

The bird-fish shrugged, which was an eye bleeding gesture for a creature that was constantly shifting forms, and flew-swam back to the flock-shoal. Rumple set off again and pondered on the fact that the fish-birds knew Belle’s name. It wasn’t that much of a surprise; his little maid would make a good impression on the grains of sand if she were dropped in the middle of the Endless Desert. He made a metal note to lock away the book on said desert when they got back to the castle, just in case Belle found a way to fall into that one. With a low groan he trudged on through the ever-shifting landscape.

The Mobius Strip was Rumple’s second least favourite portion of this damned realm. The curling ribbon stretched out in front of him looking as wrong to his eyes as everything else here. He took a slow breath and released his grip on the balustrade. There was only sensible way for him to do this was to close his eyes and stride forward while ignoring everything his sense tried to tell him. Belle had probably skipped across this damned thing while giggling. He grit his teeth and closed his eyes, pausing for a brief moment before rushing forward.

By the time he reached the other side he was gasping for breath. He slumped against the wall and hurriedly patted himself down to check that he was still solid. The Mobius Strip always made him feel like he’d been run through a mangle. Finding himself to be solid and three dimensional he opened his eyes and groaned. He was in the Hall of Stairs, his least favourite place in the Escher Realm.

A creature that was a cross between a woodlouse and a lizard rolled to a halt by his feet. It unwound itself and chirped at him. He reached down and gave it a pat on the head, he was quite fond of these creatures they were always so cheerful.

The click-clack of heels made him look up and he blanched as Belle stepped out of a doorway above his head and skipped down the stairs coming to a halt almost nose to nose with him. It would have been perfectly normally except that she was standing on what to him was the ceiling, smiling and looking perfectly content with the ridiculous gravity of this damn place. The louse-lizard rolled up and rolled away, up the wall and through a door way.

“Hello, Rumple. You’re home early. Did your deal go well?”

He stared at he for a moment, stunned by how close she was and how pretty she looked even upside down. He snapped his slack mouth closed only to open it again to speak; “The deal went well, but imagine my surprise when I returned home and found no tea waiting for me.”

It wasn’t his best snark, even to his own ears his voice sounded fond. Belle smiled and bopped him on the nose, making his eyes cross as he followed her finger.

“If you hadn’t have been so early I would have had tea ready.”

Rumple crossed his arms over his chest; “And how would you have managed that trapped within this bloody book?”

She laughed at him, actually giggled at him, like he wasn’t the Dark One and perfectly capable of turning her into a toad.

“I’m not trapped silly. I know the way home.”

“What! How? Why?”

“It’s fun here.”

Rumple pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, and muttered something about foolish maids. Belle huffed; “I didn’t break our deal. I haven’t really left the castle now have I?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her, the deal hadn’t even crossed his mind. Belle had never made any attempt to run away, so he’d just assumed she’d gotten herself into danger again. Trust did not come easily to Rumple, it took him a moment to recognize the feeling; he trusted Belle. It was a strange sensation, so he deliberately ignored it for now.

“Since I am parched, do you think you have frolicked enough? Can we get back to the castle for tea now?”

She gave him a sunny smile; “Of course.”

Belle jumped up for her, down for him, and Rumple’s heart froze in his chest as she turned in the air. He lunged forward and grabbed her, convinced that she was going to tumble away from him and crash into the slabs above and below them. Belle, now the right way up from his point of view, stumbled against his chest with a giggle. Rumple had had quite enough of this ruddy place, with one arm firmly around Belle’s waist he reached behind him and yanked on the golden cord tied to the back of his waistcoat. He just had time to move his arm back to cradle Belle’s head before the magic took hold and whipped them out of the book and back into the Dark Castle.

Rumple moaned in pain as they twisted back through the realm and snapped out of the book. He was sure he was going to be sick now. With a gut churning popping sensation, they flew out of the book and Rumple’s back crashed into his spinning wheel. All thoughts of vomiting vanished from as he found himself with an armful of giggling Belle plastered to his front.

“Well that was fast. We could have just walked through the door you know.”

He stared at her for a few long seconds and finally remembered himself enough to gently pushed her onto her feet and put some space between them.

“Yes, well, I’m very thirsty and that was quicker.”

Belle looked as if she didn’t believe a word of it, but smiled and said; “I’ll go and make the tea.”

As she strolled away to the kitchen Rumple untangled himself for the spool of gold he’d used as a safety line and stared thoughtfully at the book. He had been thinking he would lock it up in his tower, but Belle seemed to enjoy Escher’s Realm, strange girl. With a wave of his hand he sent the book back to her library. There were worse places to have to go to find his maid when he wanted a cup of tea. His eyes widened at that thought. He took the stairs to the library two at a time, muttering the titles of the books he needed to remove before Belle found them and got herself lost somewhere dangerous.


End file.
